COVINGTON — The Georgia State Patrol has issued a Newton County school bus driver a citation after an accident that sent more than 40 students and two bus drivers to the hospital earlier this month.

GSP announced Monday that the investigating trooper has issued a citation for following too closely, a misdemeanor charge, to Gloria Inscore, 55, of Covington, the driver of the Newton County school bus involved in the collision last week. The court date listed is Feb. 26 in Newton County Probate Court.

Last week, Inscore’s bus ran into the back end of another bus that was stopped to unload passengers on Ga. Highway 162 near Rocky Plains Elementary School.

Forty elementary school students, all with minor injuries, and the other bus driver were taken to Newton Medical Center and Rockdale Medical Center as a result of the accident; Inscore was taken to Atlanta Medical Center and remains on medical leave.

Last week, investigators from the Georgia State Patrol and the Motor Carrier Compliance Division of the Georgia Department of Public Safety completed a comprehensive mechanical inspection of the school bus that failed to stop, and it revealed no mechanical defects.

Sherri Davis-Viniard, director of public relations for NCSS, said Tuesday that disciplinary action is still pending against Inscore.